


The Sum of You and Everyone Else

by floodplain



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Multi, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-20
Updated: 2012-06-20
Packaged: 2017-11-08 04:05:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/438955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floodplain/pseuds/floodplain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Bruce has the worst luck, Tony kisses someone he shouldn't, and Pepper is kind of the voice of reason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sum of You and Everyone Else

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starkly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkly/gifts).



> (I know it took me nearly two months, forgive me)

"You really can stop watching me out of the corner of your eye, Virginia. I'm not going to be a problem." Bruce shot her a gentle smile over the fried rice and Tony snorted into his martini. Pepper shot Tony a rather dry look.

"I am sorry, Dr. Banner. I know you won't." She lifted her water in a toast and returned her attention to the last of her lobster egg foo young.

"Potts is a trooper." Tony ignored the questioning glances he received from Bruce's side of the table at 'Potts' and laughed. "She'll adjust."

"And Bruce will adjust to R&D very well, I'm certain." She relaxed, leaning back into her chair to watch the other two finish eating.

"What's for dessert?" Tony stood and began digging through the take-out containers neatly arranged between Bruce and Pepper. Bruce shrugged.

"Someone forgot to order it." Pepper smirked up at Tony. He instantly pouted. 

"Someone walked by and distracted me." Pepper rolled her eyes as Tony settled back into his chair. Bruce dropped his gaze to his take-out container for a moment before scooping it up and standing. 

"I'm gonna head back to work." He was intruding. He always felt as though he was. The couple slipped into flirtation almost as easily as Bruce was sure Pepper slipped into the casual clothing she wore in the evenings when it was just the three of them and international conference calls.

It had been only a week. One week and he had their routines figured out. Tony, certainly, tried to act as though he had no routine, and Pepper seemed to indulge him on that point, but they both did. Pepper was always up first. Tony emerged from the bedroom or his workshop just before lunch. They all had dinner together around nine in the evening. Pepper watched Bruce curiously for the meal and then disappeared to deal with business on the other side of the world before bed. If Tony followed Bruce, it was to watch him work for several hours before returning to Pepper. Bruce went alone to the makeshift bedroom he'd cobbled together just off his lab space. It was nearly comforting in its sameness. And though Tony was always eager to see him, and though Pepper was slowly adjusting, Bruce was certain he should leave now before they started the kissing. They were a couple, and Tony had nearly just died (again, Bruce could hear both of them point out). They needed their time.

"I'll be up soon." Tony didn't even glance away from his careful attempt to extricate his fortune from the fortune cookie Pepper had handed him without breaking it. Bruce nodded and quickly fled before Pepper could begin staring at him again. She did that often.

Tony never actually made it to the lab that night. Bruce was unsurprised. 

\---------

The first time Bruce walked in on them making out on the desk (it was quite a feat) he stayed stone-faced and asked Tony the questions he had come to ask. Tony didn't even blink. Pepper looked mortified. 

_"Tony, where is the new mass spectrograph?" Tony lifted his head from its position at Pepper's throat and glared over her shoulder at the interloper. Pepper sighed before leaning and twisting to the side to retrieve her tablet._

_"It will be delivered tomorrow. That's the quickest I could get that model, I am sorry." Tony shrugged as she spoke and settled into his desk chair._

_"Even you can't get things immediately all of the time." Pepper pointed out to Tony, crossing her legs on the desk to keep them away from Tony's attempts to stroke them._

_"…Thanks, that's all I needed to know." Bruce nodded and quickly fled back to his lab._

The second time (a full six days later) had been a wonderful show of precision balance in the elevator, and Pepper had apologized with the present of daily one-on-one yoga sessions with her trainer. Bruce used them to try to forget how complete and alive they'd both looked, how the curve of Pepper's thigh had so perfectly obscured Tony's hand between her legs, how the mint of Pepper's bra and panties somehow looked _dark_ against her pale skin but light against Tony's hair.

Bruce began to wonder if he could have JARVIS warn him about their presence in a room before he entered.

After the third time (three weeks after his first arrival at the tower), Bruce couldn't help but wonder what he was doing wrong to always be interrupting.

_He had frozen the instant he had seen Tony splayed out lasciviously across the bed, the pleasure on his face obvious from the door as Pepper dug her fingers into his thighs to brace herself. He should leave, he knew, he should turn around and return to the cabin and leave them to their reunion. It had been a full week since Pepper had been home, between a new factory opening in her hometown and supply-line problems in Japan._

_The plane lurched, sending Bruce crashing into the doorway with a surprised inhalation of breath. Tony's eyes focused on him at the same instant Pepper's eyes snapped open and did the same. They all stayed completely still for nearly a full minute before the plane lurched again and Pepper scrambled for anything to cover herself with. Tony didn't move. Bruce finally flushed bright red and shook his head._

_"I should have realized…"_

_Tony's chuckle interrupted him._

_"I'm okay with you joining in but Pep-"_

_Bruce was certain even the pilot heard Pepper smack Tony before she wrapped herself in the sheets and pushed past Bruce with a blush to match the red mark she'd just left on Tony's cheek. Bruce shook his head and left Tony on the bed to follow Pepper._

_"-py. No, the landing time hasn't changed." Bruce stopped before she could see him, and watched as she poured herself a glass of bourbon._

_"I need you to bring an outfit, please. A full outfit. Even shoes, Happy. Yes, I know I only ask for this when we've had a fight." Pepper fell silent to down the alcohol and Bruce couldn't help but admire how she could make sitting in a sheet, rumpled and still slightly flushed, look sophisticated._

_"I'd never turn down a miniature amaretto torte, Happy. Thank you." Bruce stepped forward and cleared his throat quietly as she poured herself another glass. Pepper held the bottle out to him in a silent offer, but he shook his head._

_"No, Happy, just go to the boutique by Flours when you pick up the snacks. Yes, thank you. No, Tony's clothes are with him, he doesn't need an outfit. We'll see you in an hour." Pepper ended the call and gave Bruce a tired smile._

_"I am sorry, Bruce. Don't feel responsible, please, I've wanted to smack him for a day or two." Bruce laughed quietly and took the glass away from her._

_"All of your staff care for both of you greatly, don't they?" He readjusted the phone in its cradle, watching Pepper curiously._

_"Yes. Happy always has. He's incredible." She didn't mention why it may have changed, Bruce had no need to know about past relationships. Bruce nodded, giving her a calm smile. Tony had already pointed out that Pepper and Happy had attempted a relationship in the past, when Happy pointed out that a trip to her hometown may be rough for Pepper and it seemed as though Tony had forgotten that the new factory was indeed in Pepper's hometown._

_"It's a tight knit group."_

_"You're in it now, Bruce. Don't doubt that." He did actually believe it now._

_"Ah, witnessing a fight is the initiation?" Bruce was almost certain Tony would have sarcastically corrected him with "No, seeing Pepper slap me while naked," but Pepper merely shrugged._

_"Will you be okay if I go curl up in the back?" Bruce stood quickly, not waiting for an answer. Pepper nodded and let him go._

\---------

The first time Tony kissed Bruce was after 32 hours of straight lab work on a new type of nanotechnology to use in fighting against radiation poisoning. Bruce had made an off-hand suggestion that had somehow inspired Tony to get past the latest bug they had discovered. Tony had practically dragged him away from the work table for the kiss, grasping his collar almost desperately. Bruce had only pulled away as soon as he could and mumbled something about really needing sleep. Sleep was needed because he knew he couldn't do this. The month he'd spent with Tony and Pepper proved that they loved each other, and whatever Bruce was doing could not fuck that up.

The second time it happened, Tony had simply walked into Bruce's bedroom during a meditation session (he'd actually gotten far too distracted with remembering Pepper's fingers digging into Tony's thigh for it to be anything but a fantasy) with a neatly wrapped box in his hands. Bruce started and tried to glare because of the intrusion, but Tony only smirked and dropped the box into his lap before leaning down to press a dry kiss to Bruce's lips and fleeing before Bruce could even wonder if the room had been dark enough to hide how red his face was at being caught fantasizing about a dating couple.

The third time was two weeks after the plane fight. It was quick and short but it happened just as the elevator reached Pepper's floor and the doors opened. And that, unfortunately for everyone involved, meant that Pepper was less than two feet away and had a very handy cup of coffee in her hand. Or at least, she had been holding a cup of coffee when the doors first opened. Three seconds after it opened when Tony hadn't quite managed to jerk away from pressing his lips against Bruce's and when Pepper had had two seconds too long to notice the kiss, the coffee was covering the elevator and both of them. Tony pulled back too late and caught the coffee mug square in the face as Pepper threw it between the elevator doors just as they closed.

\---------

Bruce hadn't seen anyone in five days. The coffee pot never went dry, so he felt he could safely assume Pepper was alive to brew a replacement pot after it got near empty, and there was always food for him to reheat, sometimes two meals, so he could be reassured that Tony was remembering to eat. 

But he didn't see them. He assumed they didn't see each other. And that was his fault. It ate at him. He hadn't even needed six full weeks to ruin things. Never mind that Tony had done the kissing, Bruce kept telling himself that he could have told Tony to stop the second time. He certainly hadn't wanted Tony to stop, but he hadn't wanted to hurt Pepper either. She was more than most people ever gave her credit for, he'd seen that. He'd seen more of her, he was almost certain, than anyone but Tony. After the plane incident he'd expected her to avoid him but instead she had begun to open up, at least, she had until three days before. 

Bruce waited two more days for a sign of, well, anything before asking JARVIS to arrange a trip to the California house. He couldn't bring himself to completely leave the closest thing to happiness he had ever had, but he hoped if he left the tower they could reconcile. He owed them both that.

JARVIS notified him two hours later that there was a car waiting to take him to the waiting plane. Bruce didn't bother to ask how JARVIS ever gained enough authority to order the drivers and pilots of Stark Industries around. As he finished packing (throwing his shoes on and grabbing a few experiments) he thanked JARVIS for the help and slipped out of the tower without seeking out Tony or Pepper. He would leave a message before the plane took off. Or JARVIS would tell them.

The drive to the airport was quick and quiet, which he assumed was because it was nearly midnight. The driver didn't say anything, and the pilot remained silent as he closed the plane door behind Bruce. Bruce was certain that he'd made it away. 

Certain, at least, until he entered the cabin and found Pepper giving him one of her patented disapproving glares. (And really, if she didn't have it patented, she should have one of her lawyers take care of that, because no one could ever do it so well and anyone who tried should owe her money.) Bruce took the seat opposite her without a word and strapped himself in for take-off.

"You can take that off, the pilot isn't doing a thing until I give the order." Bruce couldn't help the worried look he shot at the cockpit door, and Pepper crossed her legs with a sigh. He decided it may be best to leave the seat-belt where it laid across his hips.

"Bruce. You don't have to leave for us. Or just for me, or just for Tony." 

"…You threw something at him." 

"That happens at least twice a year." Pepper waved her hand dismissively with a wry smile. Bruce was not sure he felt at all comforted by this revelation.

"Have you spoken to him?" Bruce shook his head. Pepper looked as if she had both expected that answer and hoped for the opposite. He couldn't help but be amazed.

"I have. We-" 

"You're going to leave him. I broke it just by getting into that car with him." Bruce interrupted her before he even realized his mouth had opened. Pepper's eyebrows shot up and she shot a glance of her own towards the cockpit door. It remained closed. She could only hope the pilot was reading while waiting. He did that sometimes. It would be nice if he wasn't paying attention to them.

"I'm not. I couldn't now anyway, I think, not after everything." She let out a strained half-laugh, and Bruce was certain it was more of a broken laugh than she'd ever let on. He could only imagine what she'd put up with in the years and years she had known Tony.

"…I don't understand, Pepper. That's what should happen now." 

"Whatever happens now is up to you. We can send you anywhere you wanted to go. You can do anything you wanted to do. If you want to go work in Antarctica you'd be completely funded. Tony and I would rather you stayed, but it is _completely_ your choice. Do you understand?" She didn't point out that he'd just called her Pepper for the first time in his six weeks with them. She also didn't ask what he didn't understand. She wasn't sure she wanted to know, honestly.

"You want me to stay, even though Tony…" 

"You're his friend. A genuine friend." She fell silent for a long moment. Bruce tried to figure out if he should protest (he is almost certain that a genuine friend wouldn't have expanded upon three kisses, perhaps forty seconds of witnessed foreplay and less than two minutes of witnessed sex so well that the friend had added fifteen minutes onto his evening shower and doubled his meditation time) but decided not to chance speaking after she crossed her legs again and her hemline inched higher, in case his voice betrayed him.

"He's said things about you, and _to_ you that I've never heard him say to anyone before, even Rhodey." Pepper paused to give Bruce a smile, one that he knew was genuine after six weeks of watching her smile at Tony. "You've done well here, haven't you? With us?" The speech Pepper had planned did not include those last two words, but she managed not to look completely shocked when they slipped out. Perhaps more of Tony was wearing off on her than she thought. Nonetheless, Bruce could tell that it was unexpected. He'd become quite a student of human body language since his 'accident', and when Pepper was surprised she squared her shoulders as if she was expecting to have to flee for her life, or as if she was waiting for a blow to the chest.

"I need to move on, for everyone involved. It will be safer." 

Pepper shook her head as she clenched her hands in her lap. A few seconds later she sighed and shook her head again.

"You absolutely do not. Tony needs you to stay. And I want you to stay. I already said we have no plans to stop you if leaving is what you really want." Pepper stood smoothly and walked to the front of the plane. Bruce craned his neck to follow her movements and, if he was honest with himself, to check out her ass in the perfectly-fitted white dress she was wearing. She returned with an expensive-looking black leather briefcase and carefully set it at Bruce's feet.

"There's three-hundred thousand dollars in non-sequential twenty-dollar bills in that briefcase. We didn't look into false credentials, we decided you may already have some contacts." Pepper paused long enough to settle back into the seat opposite Bruce and gave him a sad smile. "You'll also find a satellite phone in the briefcase. It can be charged via solar energy, kinetic energy or plain old electricity if you can get it. It's connected to our private satellites, no one will be able to track it. Not even us. It does have an emergency tracker built into it, but only you will be able to activate it." He stared at the briefcase for a long moment in silence before he could lift his gaze to meet her's. 

"...Before you say anything more, let me add that staying doesn't mean Tony will get to kiss you again. If you want that to stop, it will." He watched her for another long moment and sighed quietly.

"Don't you get any say in that matter, Virginia?" 

"I have a say in nearly every matter, Dr. Banner. It comes with running a company as large as Stark Industries while dating the famous Tony Stark." She laughed quietly with a half-smirk on her face. Bruce shook his head and lifted the suitcase into his lap just to have somewhere to put his hands.

"It doesn't bother you that Tony," He paused to think over how to properly phrase this question. "You're not bothered by Tony being interested in someone else?"

"...We are discussing Tony. I figured something like this would come up sooner or later. I've known him too long to be expecting anything less." The indulgent smile on her face was one Bruce knew she often directed at Tony, and he was once again distracted by how simply _amazing_ Pepper could be.

"He's lucky to have someone like you." Pepper's smile slowly faded. The last person who had pointed that out had attempted to kill both Tony and herself. She did trust Bruce now, though she had also trusted Obadiah for years before he turned on them. She sighed and clenched her hands as she slid forward in her seat to lean towards him.

"You're not alone, Bruce. You have friends, colleagues. People who know you're more than a chemical reaction waiting to happen." Pepper reached out to lift Bruce's hands from the briefcase and held them tightly. Bruce dropped his gaze to their hands and Pepper immediately rethought the action, dropping his hands before pushing herself properly back into her seat.

"...I need to talk to Tony before I make any decisions. With you. We need to talk, all three of us." Bruce winced and shook his head in disappointment at himself.

"We can call him, or he can come here, or we can go back to the tower. Which do you prefer?" Pepper wanted it to be very clear to Bruce that all of the decisions were up to him. It would, she hoped, keep stress levels as low as possible. Perhaps this was a bit of wishful thinking on her part, but she could only hope.

"If we go back to the tower we'll be inconveniencing the pilot." Bruce gave the still-closed cockpit door a concerned glance, and Pepper couldn't help but smile. Bruce was _so_ careful of everyone. It was refreshing after years and years of Tony.

"He's paid remarkably well to be inconvenienced at times, Bruce." Bruce nodded but still looked quite uncomfortable with doing that to Tony's pilot. Pepper gave the scientist a gentle smile and suddenly had her phone in her hands to text Tony. Bruce wasn't sure if he had just missed it laying next to her, or if she had some sort of phone _holster_ on her thigh (which, honestly, wouldn't surprise him at all) but he decided not to ask any questions. Any train of thought where Pepper's thighs were involved tended to cause him to become remarkably distracted.

There was a flurry of text exchanges (Bruce assumed Tony was dictating to JARVIS, as he often did) and Pepper finally set the phone down with a soft sigh. 

"Tony's on his way." 

Bruce took that to mean that Tony was driving. Time to kill. Wonderful.

"So, we have...a while." 

Pepper shrugged as though she wasn't entirely sure how long they had. That was exactly how she meant it. She had made it very clear to Tony that she wanted him to drive, but she was almost certain he would ignore that. Bruce tried to wait quietly, but patience hadn't been a strong point of his for years.

"I'm not going to stay if it means Tony leaves you." 

Pepper shook her head, but said nothing. Even if she had tried to speak, her words would have been drowned out by the loud whoosh of the Iron Man suit's repulsors. She shook her head again, rolling her eyes as she pushed herself out of her seat and headed for the cabin door before Bruce could even unbuckle his lap restraint.

"I told you this wasn't a suit situation." Bruce stood in the aisle and watched as Tony yanked off his helmet and shrugged before leaning slightly to kiss Pepper's cheek.

"I wasn't going to _drive_ here at this time of day, Miss Potts. Do you really need me here anyway? We talked." She shook her head and turned to return to a seat without bothering to point out that it was after midnight and traffic was slow, pausing when she realized Bruce was standing in the way. 

"I..." For a long moment Tony stared at Bruce as Bruce silently stared at Pepper. _Hate being the center of attention_. Tony shifted to rest one of his hands on Pepper's waist, and Bruce cleared his throat. Pepper had never put herself on the table, but he was certain that he couldn't just take Tony.

"I don't want Tony." Pepper nodded seconds before Tony did. Bruce wasn't sure if that was because she comprehended it first or because she had been expecting that answer. Tony looked surprised, as if no one had ever muttered that combination of words before.

"...Okay, well, you can still hang out and stuff. I'll stop, I promise." Tony pulled his hand away from Pepper's ass and it disappeared behind her head. Bruce assumed he was placing it over the arc reactor in Tony's uniquely personal version of 'cross my heart'. Bruce glanced off to the side and shook his head.

"No, I mean..." Tony was always telling him to stop thinking and just go for things. He took a deep breath, stepping closer to Pepper. Another deep breath as he dared rest his hand on her arm and nervously pressed his dry lips against hers. He felt her arm shift under his fingers and he knew that her back was ramrod straight, that her hands were clenched at her sides. He could imagine it perfectly.

"Oh." Tony shifted back, his suit whirring and clanking in the silence of the cabin. Bruce couldn't see the expression on his face and could only hope it wasn't angry or sad. Though the kiss had only been seconds long, it felt as if a far longer amount of time had passed. Bruce pulled back without meeting Pepper's gaze, choosing instead to focus on a patch of wall behind Tony. 

"...How about that." Tony drummed his fingers on his helmet as Pepper collapsed into the nearest seat with a look of confusion rivaling the moment when Tony had promoted her to CEO. Bruce, remarkably emboldened by the fact that she hadn't slapped him, stepped forward to tug Tony down for a kiss just as chaste as the one Pepper had received. 

"Hell, really? Why didn't you just say both of us?" Tony's forehead furrowed after the kiss. He did not appreciate that moment of self-doubt he had just experienced.

Pepper rolled her eyes and lightly touched Bruce's hand to garner his attention.

"...How did you envision this working, Bruce?"

"I didn't. I mean, I haven't considered, with The Other Guy involved..." 

"I would say we'll go slow, but Tony hardly knows that the word exists. Is this what you want? Uh, both of us?" Tony shot Pepper a pout and quietly whirred as he draped his arms over Bruce's shoulder before Bruce could answer.

"I can totally do slow. And even if I can't it's okay because my stamina is a _maz_ ing, and Pepper can back me up on that." 

"Tony, shut up." She shook her head with a half-indulgent sigh. Bruce glanced between the two with a slightly baffled look on his face. Pepper remained silent and Tony rolled his eyes, but nonetheless obeyed her order.

"...I would like to try, if we're allowed?" 

Tony laughed. As if anyone would be allowed to stop them. Pepper seemed okay with the idea, and hell, he loved it. Pepper shrugged. 

Bruce turned to stare at Tony for a moment after the laugh, unsure what the laugh was triggered by. Tony caught this glance and shot Pepper a smirk before turning and pulling Bruce up against the suit for another kiss. Satisfied for the moment he released Bruce quickly (with the hope that he wasn't pissed) and returned his attention to Pepper.

"Weird?" Pepper rolled her eyes but couldn't contain her laughter.

"It's a little weird. A lot weird. I'll adjust." She had adjusted to the idea of sharing Tony in five days. Surely not having to share him quite so much wouldn't be so difficult to handle.

"I'm going to take Bruce back to the tower. You can bring the car back." Bruce almost immediately shook his head and stepped away. 

"I'll ride with Pepper." He was almost certain he could handle a jet (he had several times since the Helicarrier, after all) but the idea of clinging to Tony while flying over Manhattan still seemed like a bad idea.

"It'll be fun." Bruce shook his head again and Tony shrugged.

"Whatever. Don't take too long." He snapped his helmet on with a last smirk. "I'll be waiting for you both." He exited the cabin and flew off, leaving Pepper and Bruce in the cabin. 

"I'll tell the pilot, since he came out for me." Bruce smiled nervously as Pepper stood. She pushed her hair back and patted his arm.

"Everything is okay, Bruce." 

And maybe, he hoped, it really would be.


End file.
